Game state save, transfer and resume for cloud gaming

ABSTRACT

A system and method of pausing a game in a cloud gaming system including playing a game on a first game computer included in the cloud gaming system, pausing the game at a selected point in the game and capturing game state data for the paused game. The paused game can be resumed by retrieving the game state data and applying the game state data to a selected game computer and resuming the game at the selected point in the game on the selected game computer.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation application under 35 USC § 120 ofU.S. application Ser. No. 16/726,655, filed on Dec. 24, 2019 (U.S. Pat.No. 10,814,227, issued on Oct. 27, 2020), entitled “Game State Save,Transfer and Resume for Cloud Gaming,” which is a Continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 15/792,682, filed on Oct. 24, 2017 (U.S. Pat. No.10,512,841, issued on Dec. 24, 2019), entitled “Game State Save,Transfer and Resume for Cloud Gaming,” which is a Continuation of Ser.No. 14/603,308, filed on Jan. 22, 2015 (U.S. Pat. No. 9,795,879, issuedon Oct. 24, 2017), entitled “Game State Save, Transfer and Resume forCloud Gaming,” which further claims priority from U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application No. 62/099,027 filed on Dec. 31, 2014 and entitled“Game State Save, Transfer and Resume for Cloud Gaming,” all of whichare incorporated herein by reference in their entirety for all purposes.

FIELD OF DISCLOSURE

The present invention relates generally to cloud gaming environments,and more particularly, to systems and methods for saving a state of anon-going game at any point in the game, and resuming the game at thesame point of the game at some later time.

BACKGROUND

Cloud gaming is facilitated by a system of networked servers that areaccessible to users via the Internet. The servers host multiple users'gaming sessions. Typically, a user is assigned a virtual server or aphysical server for hosting the user's game play. Many games are complexand may last indefinite periods of time. Often a user will pause hisgame to allow the user to take a break for many different reasons.

The game typically includes periodic, predefined stop points programmedinto the game. For example, a predefined stop point is often at the endof each scene or level of action in a game. At these predefined stoppingpoints, the games will save data from the game play, such as levelsreached, achievements obtained, and perform other housekeepingfunctions. If the user wishes to play the game further, either after thestopping point or another later point in time, the game system willrestart or re-launch the game, e.g., at a next level or stage. If theuser wishes to pause the game, the game can be paused, but the gamemachine will need to stay frozen waiting for further user input. This,of course, if the user wishes to take a short break. However, if theuser wishes to pause and stop playing for a while, it is inefficient andimpractical for the game machine to continue spinning for hours or days,waiting for the user to resume.

The content of the game between the predefined pause points includesunique, complex, interactive, graphics and action that are unique tothat user's specific instance of play. The unique, complex, interactive,graphics and action are embodied in a multitude of different, unique,game state data. Saving game play in one of the unique, complex,interactive, graphics and action points in the game is correspondinglycomplex and often prevented by various hardware and software versionincompatibilities.

As noted above, pausing the cloud gaming server hosting the user's gameplay could be done, however, that unnecessarily consumes cloud gamingserver time and energy and also prevents any other user from using thecloud gaming server while the paused user's game play is paused.Further, if the user never resumes his game play, the server would bededicated to a user that is never returning. As a result, currenttechnology limits pausing game play to the predefined stop points.

Additionally, if a user stops game play at a point in the game that isbefore stopping points (i.e., end of the battle, end of the level, endof the scene, etc.), game play may be reset to the last saved stop point(i.e., state before the level started). This reset erases the user'sgame play between the most recently passed predefined stop point.

It is in this context that embodiments of the invention arise.

SUMMARY

Broadly speaking, the present invention fills these needs by providing asystem and method for pausing an on-going game, at any point in thegame, and resuming the game at the same point of the game at some timein the future. The embodiments enable saving of the game state at thepoint of pausing. The paused game state is saved with data sufficient toreconstruct the state of the game when the user chooses to resume. Whilethe game is paused, the game state is collected and saved to storage,such that the cloud gaming system or server is no longer storing thestate in active memory or registers of the hardware. This enablesfreeing up the system for other game play or processing. Further,resuming of game play can occur at any time and from any remote client.When resume is desired, the user will simply select the game that waspaused and the system will load the game state. Loading the game statewill include generating the game state from multiple files and datastructures, such that the reconstructed game state will place a machineback to the same or substantially the same state as when the game waspaused.

In one embodiment, when the game is paused, the saved game state willalso save a period of time prior to the time when the pause wastriggered. Saving this additional amount of time will allow the user tocatch up or get reintroduced to what was occurring in the game prior topause. As will be described below, saving of the game state occurs at atime that is generally not predesigned by the game designers, soprocessing must be completed to collect state data from hardwareregisters, buffers, memory, etc., as well as software buffers, registersand files. This collection of state data will enable another cloudgaming system to resume the game play, where it was left off, after thestate data is loaded in the proper hardware and software locations, sothat active interactive game play can resume. It should be appreciatedthat the present invention can be implemented in numerous ways,including as a process, an apparatus, a system, computer readable media,or a device. Several inventive embodiments of the present invention aredescribed below.

One embodiment discloses a cloud gaming system including the capabilityof pausing a game and resuming the game. The cloud gaming systemincluding a controller, a storage device coupled to the controller andmultiple game computers coupled to the controller by a network. Each ofthe game computers can include a hardware layer, an operating systemlayer and an application layer. The operating system layer beingconfigured for interacting with the hardware layer, the operating systemlayer including a state manager client. The application layer isconfigured for interacting with at least a portion of the operatingsystem layer and a portion of the hardware layer. The application layerincluding a game, the state manager client configured to capture gamestate data of the game computer and storing the captured game state datawhen the game is paused. The state manager client can also apply thegame state data on the same or a different game computer and resume thegame at the point the game was paused.

Another embodiment provides a method of pausing a game in a cloud gamingsystem. The method includes playing a game on a first game computerincluded in the cloud gaming system and pausing the game at a selectedpoint in the game. A game state data is captured for the paused game.The paused game can be resumed by retrieving the game state data andapplying the game state data to a selected game computer and resumingthe game at the selected point in the game on the selected gamecomputer. The game state data can also be shared among different usersto allow a first user to share his game state with one or more otherusers.

Other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent fromthe following detailed description, taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example the principles ofthe invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be readily understood by the followingdetailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a simplified cloud gaming system, for implementing embodimentsof the present disclosure.

FIG. 2A is a flowchart diagram that illustrates a simplified overview ofthe method operations performed in the cloud gaming state save, resumeand transfer mechanism, for implementing embodiments of the presentdisclosure

FIG. 2B is a simplified graphical user interface of a user's cloudgaming system dashboard, for implementing embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 2C illustrates an example where the user is provided thefunctionality to share and save resume points, for implementingembodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart diagram that illustrates the method operationsperformed in the cloud gaming state save, resume and transfer, forimplementing embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a Game System, according to variousembodiments of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Several exemplary embodiments for systems and methods for saving a stateof an on-going game, at any point in the game, and resuming the game atthe same point of the game at some time in the future will now bedescribed. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that thepresent invention may be practiced without some or all of the specificdetails set forth herein.

Cloud gaming is becoming very popular gaming environment. Cloud gamingallows single player and multi-player game play and also allows a userto play complex, content-rich games such as games with rich interactivecontent as well as immersive three-dimensional (3D) graphics. Suchcontent rich games require complex and powerful, often very specializedcomputers having specialized processors, co-processors and graphicsprocessors. Cloud gaming also requires well engineered server processesto reduce latency and monitor latency to avoid performance drops. As anadded benefit, cloud gaming allows a user to play content rich games ona much simpler, client computer. As an example, a user can play games ona cloud gaming system using a tablet, a smartphone or other handheldcomputing device capable of communicating with the cloud gaming systemvia a local network and/or the Internet.

In a cloud gaming environment, just maintaining a game session open forthe user to return to at some undefined moment in the future is not aviable option. Indefinitely maintaining a game session open for the useris costly for a cloud gaming provider. These costs include power usageby the cloud game computer and preventing another user from using thatsame game computer. In one embodiment, a cloud gaming system may assigna user a dedicated game computer (i.e., managed by a cloud gamingserver), per game session. Thus, a same game computer can also beassigned to a second user when the earlier user is no longer assigned tothe game computer for use. Over time, multiple users share a gamecomputer, but they are not using the same game computer at the samepoint in time.

The disclosed cloud gaming state save, resume and transfer technologyallows a user to pause his game play session anytime during the gameplay that the user chooses. Behind the scenes, the user's game state isstored and then the user's cloud game computer is freed up for anotheruser. The cloud gaming state save, resume and transfer technology savesenergy as the gaming server can transfer use of the user's assigned gamecomputer to another user.

When the user is ready to resume his game, the user's saved game stateis retrieved and loaded into the same or a different cloud gamecomputer. The user can then resume his game play at the same point hepaused it. The user can resume his game state using the same or adifferent client device. The user can resume his game state using thesame or a different cloud gaming data center. The user can resume hisgame state from a geographically different part of the world.

The disclosed cloud gaming state save, resume and transfer technologyhas other uses as well. For example the user's gaming session could beshared among other users to allow other users to experience the samegaming session or possibly to help the other user (who may be at anotherremote location, but connected the cloud gaming service). As an example,a first user pauses game play, passes (e.g., shares) game state data toa second user, the second user completes a difficult fight for the firstuser and then pauses the game once again and passes the new game statedata back to the first user. In one implementation, the user can selecta share button or option on a controller or other user interface toshare the saved game state. The disclosed cloud gaming state save,resume and transfer technology has many other uses as well. When theuser shares the game state, the user that received the share may beassigned to another game computer by the cloud gaming system (i.e.,different from the game computer of the sharing user). Before eachshare, the state is saved, and when the state is resumed, it may beresumed on the same game computer or another, depending on which gamecomputer the user is assigned from time to time.

FIG. 1 is a simplified cloud gaming system 100, for implementingembodiments of the present disclosure. The cloud gaming system 100includes a controller 130, multiple game consoles 112A-n (e.g.,computers), one or more game console managers 113 and a storage server110. The cloud controller 130 (e.g., controller), the multiple gameconsoles 112A-n, the one or more game console managers 113 and thestorage server 110 can be located in one or more data centers 111, 115,117. The cloud controller 130, the multiple game consoles 112A-n and thestorage server 110 are coupled together by local area networks 104A,104B, 104C and/or the Internet 102. The multiple game consoles 112A-nand the game console manager 113 can be co-located in a single datacenter 115 or distributed among more than one data centers.

One or more game console managers 113 can be included in each rack ofgame consoles 112A-n. The game console managers 113 manage one or moregame consoles 112A-n depending on one or more hardware and/or softwarearchitectures. The game console managers 113 are physically connected tothe game consoles 112A-n using a network connection 115 and/or anoptional general purpose input/output, a universal serial bus or anequivalent control connection for activating power to a game console.The game console manager 113 can optionally include additional rolessuch as setting up and managing a streaming session between the assignedgame console and the user's client device.

A local storage server 116 could optionally be co-located in the samedata center 115 with one or more of the multiple game consoles 112A-n.The local storage server 116 can store data 116A to be used by orreceived from the multiple game consoles 112A-n and/or the cloudcontroller 130. The data centers 111, 115, 117 can be separatedgeographically. By way of example, the first data center 111 and thethird data center 117 can be located in Los Angeles, Calif. and thesecond data center 115 can be located in Stockholm, Sweden.

The cloud controller 130 and/or the game console manager 113 includes agames database 132 for storing multiple games and other applicationsthat may be downloaded to one of more of the multiple game consoles112A-n. The cloud controller 130 also includes an authorization manager135. The authorization manager 135 determines if a first user has avalid account and the authorized access to the cloud gaming system 100.The first user's account information is included in a user accountdatabase 133. In one or more implementations, the cloud controller 130can also include a state manager 134. The state manager 134 can alsowork with a state manager client 144 included in each of the gameconsoles 112A-n to capture the game state data for the respective gameconsole, when initiated.

The storage server 110 provides storage facilities for the cloud gamingsystem 100. The storage server 110 includes one or more storage devices110A, 110B for storing data such as a user's state data 114′, as may berequired by the cloud gaming system 100. The one or more storage devices110A, 110B can be any suitable storage media, e.g., hard disk drive,solid state drive, or optical drive, etc.

Each of the game consoles 112A-n includes a hardware layer 143 and anoperating system layer 142 overlying the hardware layer. An applicationlayer 141 overlays the operating system layer 142. The application layer141 includes games and other application that are run on the gameconsole 112A. The hardware layer includes a main processor 145, aco-processor 146, a graphics processor (GPU) 147, a memory system 148,an input output system 149, a network interface card 150 and many otherphysical peripherals and virtual peripherals that may be required forthe operations of the game console 112A. The main processor 145, theco-processor 146, the graphics processor 147, the memory system 148, theinput output system 149, the network interface card 150 and otherperipherals are coupled together by one or more data buses 151.

In at least one implementation, the operations system layer 142 includesa state manager client 144. In other implementations the state managerclient 144 could be included in one or more applications in theapplication layer 141. The state manager client 144 could also beimplemented having portions residing in both the operations system layer142 and the application layer 141. The state manager client 144 cancapture game state data 114 of the game console 112A, when initiated.The captured game state data 114 can be stored as game state data 114′in a local storage server 116 and/or in the storage server 110. Thestorage location of the stored game state data 114′ is provided to thecloud controller to add to the first user's account information in theuser account database 133.

The client devices 122A, 122B provide access to the cloud gaming system100 via the Internet 102 or a local network 104A-C. The client devices122A, 122B can be any suitable platform capable of accessing theInternet 102 and/or a local network 104A-C. By way of example, theclient devices 122A, 122B can be a personal computer, laptop computer, anotebook computer, a handheld gaming device, a handheld computing devicesuch as a tablet computer or a smart telephone or any other suitablecomputing platform. The first client computing device 122A and thesecond client computing device 122B can be used in multiple different,geographically disparate locations. By way of example, the first clientcomputing device 122A can be a tablet computer used to access theInternet 102 and the cloud gaming system 100 by the first user at hishome, in his office and while he is travelling. Similarly, the secondclient computing device 122B can be a notebook computer capable ofaccessing the Internet 102 and the cloud gaming system 100 in a home, inan office or other locations having Internet access.

In one implementation, a first user can use the first client computingdevice 122A to access the cloud controller 130 via the Internet 102. Theauthentication manager 135 authenticates the first user and determinesthe access level allowed for the first user. The cloud controller 130and/or the game console manager 113 assigns the first user to the gameconsole A 112A for the present cloud gaming session and provides theauthorized level of access including the authorized applications andgames from the games and application database 132. The cloud controller130 130 and/or the game console manager 113 may also transfer theauthorized games and other applications to the assigned game console A112A from the games and applications database 132. In oneimplementation, the assigned game console A 112A can access the gamesand applications database 132 to transfer the authorized games and otherapplications to the assigned game console A.

The disclosed cloud gaming state save, resume and transfer technology isespecially useful for cloud gaming purposes because there is a largeamount of data involved in pausing and restoring the game state. Cloudgaming systems 100 are well suited to the disclosed cloud gaming statesave, resume and transfer technology, because cloud gaming systemsinclude thousands of cloud gaming consoles 112A-n connected all aroundthe world using high-speed networks 104A-C.

Multiple implementations of the cloud gaming state save, resume andtransfer technology and methods are disclosed herein. One approach istransferring at least one of a full hardware state data or a fullapplication state data, between game consoles. The following is adescription of how the cloud gaming state save, resume and transfermechanism can work. A detailed description of how to make a copy of thehardware state data and application state data is also provided.

Cloud gaming state save, resume and transfer mechanism allows thetransfer of game state data from one game console to another gameconsole. FIG. 2A is a flowchart diagram that illustrates a simplifiedoverview of the method operations 200 performed in the cloud gamingstate save, resume and transfer mechanism, for implementing embodimentsof the present disclosure. In an operation 205, a first user is playinga game on a game console 112A in a cloud gaming system 100. In anoperation 210, the first user opts to pause the game at a selected pausepoint in the game. The selected pause point can be any point in the gameother than a predefined game pause point. The cloud gaming system 100may also automatically pause the user's game for one or more cloudgaming system management reasons. By way of example, if the cloudcontroller 130 detects no activity from the first user for a period oftime longer than a predetermined inactivity time limit or if the cloudcontroller detects a network disconnect from the first user's clientdevice 112A.

In one embodiment, the cloud controller has knowledge of available gamesand available game servers but due to capacity reasons, typically relieson the streaming software in the assigned game console and or the gameconsole manager to handle continuous interaction with the client devices112A-B. The game console manager, the assigned game console or theclient device can determine inactivity. Inactivity by the user can bedetermined by the client device such as no button presses for apredefined time duration. The game console manager and/or the assignedgame console can similarly identify inactivity by the user. By way ofexample, when the client device detects inactivity by the user for thepredefined time duration, the client device sends a disconnect messageto the assigned game console and/or the game console manager. Thedisconnect message may also include a reason for the disconnect messagee.g., no user activity. When the assigned game console and/or the gameconsole manager receives the disconnect message, processes to shutdownthe remainder of the streaming session, such as stop the game, storeuser data, capture game state data, etc. are initiated. In oneimplementation, the disconnect message is received by the streamingsoftware in the assigned game console and/or in the game console managerand the streaming software issues a shutdown message to the game consolemanager and the game console manager handles the shutdown process.

The user disconnect ultimately may also be communicated to the cloudcontroller depending on the architecture. In one embodiment, the cloudcontroller can monitor or track whether a user is currently streaming ornot (e.g. for billing purposes) or to prevent the user from streamingmultiple times which could cause data corruption if the user access hissaved data from two or more locations.

The first user's game state data is captured and stored in an operation215. The game console 112A can be freed up for a second user's use afterthe first user's game state data is captured and stored. The game statedata includes hardware state data and/or application state data. Thegame state data may also include historical dependency data and processdata that may be necessary to reconstruct the game at the selected pausepoint of the game. The historical dependency data and process data canbe in the form of a data structure including temporal metadata and userinteractive historical metadata required to form an executable gamingapplication capable of resuming at the selected pause point. Examples oftemporal metadata and user interactive historical metadata includegraphics data such as color data, texture data, vertex data,fragmentation data, art assets, drawing data, shading data, lightingdata and more. The temporal metadata and user interactive historicalmetadata can also include contents and states of various buffers andcaches and the status of various counters and timers necessary tocoordinate the operation of the game. Capturing the game state data canalso include capturing a current image of the scene in the game at thefirst user's selected pause point.

At some later time, in an operation 220, the first user opts to resumethe paused game and the stored first user's game state data is retrievedand loaded on an assigned game console and the game is resumed at thepaused point in the game in an operation 225. The user can resume thegame on the same game console 112A as originally the user originallyused with the game. Alternatively, the first user can resume the game onanother game console 112B. The first user can also authorize the seconduser to access the first user's game state data to allow the second userto resume the first user's paused game. Resuming the game includesapplying the game state data on the selected game console. The gamestate data can include a data structure including temporal metadata anduser interactive historical metadata required to form an executablegaming application capable of resuming at the selected pause point.

FIG. 2B is a simplified graphical user interface of a user's cloudgaming system dashboard 250, for implementing embodiments of the presentdisclosure. The cloud gaming system dashboard 250 includes options toselect a new game 252, research the user's current standing in a gamingtournament 254, review user's gaming history 256, update user's friends258, other options 260 and update user account 262. Each of the optionsmoves the user to a corresponding screen for performing the selectedoption.

The cloud gaming system dashboard 250 can also include a paused gamemenu 270. The paused game menu 270 includes a list of paused games andoptions to resume or delete the paused games. It should be noted thatthe user can have more than one paused games and can pause a game at anytime and for any reason he chooses. A pointer 280 for selecting thedisplayed menu options is also shown in the cloud gaming systemdashboard 250 screen.

Cloud gaming state save, resume and transfer provides the capture andallows transfer of a user's game state from one game console to anothergame console. The user's game state can include one or both of thehardware state data and/or the application state data of the user'sgaming console at the time the user pauses the game.

FIG. 2C illustrates an example where the user is provided thefunctionality to share 290 a saved state of game A. The system may alsosave data that the user saved the game state with Bob 292, and is thenprovided with the ability to resume 292 from some saved pause point orstate made by Bob. It is also possible for Bob to complete a level andsave or indicate back to the user that the level is complete, whichwould enable re-starting of a next level. Further shown in FIG. 2C isthe option to save historical information 294 of paused points in gameB. If the user pauses several times, it is possible for the user toresume at these earlier pause points, instead of only the last savedpause point. In some embodiments, a certain number of pause points aresaved for historical purposes to save on storage space or the user maybe provided with the ability to download saved pause points. Further, auser may be able to share a pause point with more than one user. Forexample, a user may share a paused point in game A with multiple users(e.g., friends) to see who scores the best in a level, achieves the besttrophies, etc. Then, the user can select which friends pause point he orshe wishes to take over from or resume from.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart diagram that illustrates the method operations 300performed in the cloud gaming state save, resume and transfer, forimplementing embodiments of the present disclosure. In an operation 305,a first user accesses a cloud gaming system cloud controller 130. Theauthorization manager 135 confirms the user has a valid account and thefirst user's authorized access by querying the user account database 133and comparing the first user's login access information to the firstuser's account information in the user account data base 133. The firstuser can access the cloud controller via a client device 122A.

The cloud controller 130 assigns the first user to a game console 112A,in an operation 310. In one implementation, assigning the first user toa game console 112A can include automatically loading any of the firstuser's previously paused games on the assigned game console 112A.Assigning the game console 112A to the first user can also includedisplaying the first user's cloud gaming system dashboard 250 screen. Inone implementation the game console manager can assign the first user toa game console 112A. The cloud controller performs the authorization andthe game console manager activates the game console (e.g., apply power),transfers any needed data such as game data, user data, game state data,etc., and trigger a login sequence to the assigned game console.Alternatively, the assigned game console can retrieve any needed datasuch as game data, user data, game state data, etc. from thecorresponding storage locations as indicated by the user data and/or thegame console manager and/or the cloud controller 130.

In an operation 315, the first user selects and executes a game or anapplication on the assigned game console 112A. The assigned game console112A can be one of many game consoles in one or more cloud gamingservers. In one implementation, the first user's assigned game console112A can be limited to a timeshare of a game console, where the firstuser is allocated only a portion of the operating time of the assignedgame console 112A. The game console 112A can provide one or moretimeshares, each of the timeshares can be assigned to respective user,thus allowing multiple users to use a single game console at the sametime.

In an operation 320, a pause is initiated in the game at a point otherthan a predefined pause point in the application. For example, the firstuser could initiate the pause request to pause his streaming gamesession. Alternatively, the cloud controller 130 can initiate the pausedue to inactivity by the first user that exceeds a preselectedinactivity time limit. For cost reasons, the cloud controller 130 canautomatically pause the first user's game console 112A so that the firstuser's game console can be freed up and made available to a second user.The first user can initiate the pause by communicating the pause requestto one or both of the cloud controller 130 and the first user's assignedgame console 112A. As noted above, the pause operations may bedistributed among the assigned game console, the game console manager,the cloud controller 130 and the streaming software.

In an operation 325, the first user's current game state data 114 of theassigned game console 112A is captured. The captured first user's gamestate data 114 can be hardware state data or application state data orboth hardware state data and application state data. The hardware statedata and application state data and methods and systems for capturingthe hardware state data and application state data are described in moredetail below.

In an operation 330, the captured first user's game state data 114 isstored for later retrieval. As described above, the captured firstuser's game state data 114 can be stored as stored game state data 114′in the local storage server 116 and/or in the storage server 110. Thestorage server 110 and the local storage server 116 can efficientlystore game state data for multiple game consoles and/or multiple users.In an operation 335, the location of the first user's stored game statedata 114′ is associated with the first user's account data in the useraccount data base 133. This allows the first user's account informationto include the storage location of the first user's paused game statedata.

At some later time, and in an operation 340, a request to resume thefirst user's paused game at the point it was paused in operation 320above, is initiated. The resume request can originate from the firstuser or an authorized second user. The first user or an authorizedsecond user can issue the resume request through an assigned gameconsole such as game console 112B.

If the first user had logged off his initial gaming session or hisinitial gaming session was otherwise interrupted such as the cloudcontroller terminating the initial gaming session or the first userexperiencing an interruption in the network connection to the cloudgaming server 130 or to the game console manager 113 or to the assignedgame console, then the first user may be required to re-access the cloudgaming service and be assigned a game console, as described in operation305 above. When the first user is assigned a game console 112B, one ormore of the first user's paused games may be automatically loaded on theassigned game console. When the first user is assigned a game console112B and one of the first user's paused games is loaded on the assignedgame console, the assigned game console may provide an indication to thefirst user that the paused game is ready to resume and provide accessfor the first user to resume the paused game, at the point the game waspaused in operation 320 above.

The first user can also share, or send the stored game state data 114′or otherwise authorize access to the stored state game data 114′ to thesecond user as described above. The request to resume the game isreceived in the cloud controller 130 from an assigned game console,e.g., game console 112B.

Upon receiving the resume request, the cloud controller 130 queries thefirst user's account information in the user account database 133 todetermine the storage location of the stored first user's game statedata 114′ for the user's paused game, in an operation 345. The cloudcontroller 130 and/or the game console manager 113 can retrieve thestored first user's game state data 114′ and send the stored firstuser's game state data 114′ to the requesting game console 112B, in anoperation 250. In an operation 355, the requesting game console 112Breceives the stored first user's game state data 114′.

In an operation 360, the requesting game console 112B applies the storedfirst user's game state data 114′ to produce resumed game state data114″ to reconstruct the game at the paused point. Reconstructing thegame at the paused point configures the requesting game console 112B tothe equivalent configuration as the game console 112A and the game towhen the game was paused in operation 320 above. Reconstructing the gameat the paused point can include populating multiple respective aspectsand locations within the requesting game console 112B with therespective portions of the resumed game state data. By way of example,reconstructing the game at the paused point can include populating allhistorical dependency data and process data that may be necessary toreconstruct the game at the point the game was paused. Examples ofdependency data and process data necessary to reconstruct the gameinclude graphics data such as color data, texture data, vertex data,fragmentation data, art assets, drawing data, shading data, lightingdata and more. The dependency data and process data can also includecontents and states of various buffers and caches and the status ofvarious counters and timers necessary to coordinate the operation of thegame. Reconstructing the game at the point the game was paused can alsoinclude displaying a captured image of the scene in the game at thefirst user's selected pause point.

In an operation 370, the first user's game is resumed in game console112B, at the same point in the game as was paused, in operation 320above, and the method operations can end.

Game state data can be expressed in the form of an application statedata and/or a hardware state data. Each of the application state dataand hardware state data capture and resume has its own challenges forthe cloud gaming state save, resume and transfer technology, asdiscussed below.

Application State Data

A computer is a piece of hardware composed of one or more processors,memory and input output peripherals like a graphics processor unit(GPU), a sound card, a keyboard and other peripherals. The tasks thecomputer runs are computer programs or applications. The computerprocessors execute these applications' code and make decisions based onthe I/O, e.g. a keyboard button press can result in an output of thevideo frame on a display.

The application state data can be attributed to the hardware state data.The memory buffers the application uses are ultimately areas of a RAMchip or in a swap file, e.g. a hard disk drive or a solid state drive.The processor stores the instructions for the application in instructioncaches and retrieves/stores data in processor registers, data caches orRAM. During execution, each computer application has a correspondingapplication state data. The application state data is in the form of:

Open file handlesNetwork connections in the form of open sockets

Pipes

State of memory buffers used by the applicationInstruction counters

Timers

As an example, the application state data can include signals, threads,file descriptors, virtual memory mappings, thread local storage,threads, process IDs, user IDs, group IDs, pipes, sockets and more. Theapplication state data can also include operating system level conceptssuch as GPU resources occupied by the game. The game is aware ofresources such as textures, geometry buffers, shader instructions forthe GPU to execute, and others. Textures are stored in GPU memory,shader instructions are loaded into GPU memory and in an instructioncache during execution and there is ultimately a matching instructionpointer.

Referring again to FIG. 3 above, the game or application is suspendedwhen the pause is initiated in operation 320 of FIG. 3 above. Inoperation 325, the game state data is captured by capturing theapplication state data. The application state data includes virtualmemory mappings, retrieve file descriptors, etc. In one implementation,a debugger-like functionality from within the application can be used tocapture the virtual memory mappings, retrieve file descriptors etc.

A portion of the application state data can also be obtained from theoutside on a Linux operating system e.g. from /proc/<proccessid>application. An example of application state data could be an openfile, for which the application has a file descriptor, which isnumerical value. The numerical value file descriptor is used in fileread/write calls as an identifier for the file. In order to restore thisstate, the application needs to be provided with the correct numericalvalue file descriptor. By way of example, in a Linux operating systemthe numerical value file descriptor can be captured by pseudo code suchas:

- original_file_descriptor = 42 - file_descriptor =open(“/path/to/file”, ..) - dup2(file_descriptor,original_file_descriptor)

Also on a Linux operating system other types of application state datasuch as process IDs (PIDs), user id, group ids, network layout andothers can be virtualized using name spaces. The virtualized process IDs(PIDs), user ID, group IDs, network layout, etc., allow creation ofsandbox/container environments, in which portions of the system can behidden and in which PIDs, user IDs and other operating system levelresources can be recreated.

The captured application state data can then be used to re-create anidentical application state data on the same or a different computersystem, e.g., game console 112B, in operation 360 of FIG. 3. The variousapplication state data can be placed in the respective locations in thegame console 112B being used to resume the application or game. Contentof the network buffers can be recreated in the operating system.Alternatively, the network buffers can be drained to a safe recoverypoint, similar to the hardware interrupts described below. In thismanner the user would be able to resume the application at the point theapplication or game was paused in operation 320 above.

Hardware State Data

Hardware state data includes the operational conditions of a computerthat us paused during execution of an application, such as when the userchooses to pause the application. The current operational conditions ofthe computer are frozen in time so that the computer's hardware, e.g.,processors, RAM, all the peripherals, GPU, sound card, network card . .. etc. Capturing this hardware state data and then applying the capturedhardware state data to another computer can allow the user to resume theapplication where the user had paused the application in the firstcomputer.

An emulator is an application that mimics a computer's hardwarecompletely in software. Emulators are often used to run legacyapplications from a very old computer or game console, such as anobsolete computer or game console, on a more recently produced computersystem. The more recently produced computer system is incompatible withthe legacy applications due to hardware incompatibilities and withoutthe emulator application, the more recently produced computer system isunable to run the legacy applications.

In order to save hardware state data at any selected point in theoperation, the emulator can save the emulated hardware state data forthe emulated computer e.g. to a file. The emulated hardware state dataincludes capturing all the memory for the emulated devices, state ofperipherals, storing the address of the currently executed instructionin others for the emulated computer. The emulated computer is realizedcompletely in the emulator application, thus capturing the applicationstate data of the emulator application, as described above.

A virtual machine state is similar to an emulated hardware state data.In the context of cloud gaming, a hardware state data capture, transferand resume, one challenge for emulators is sharing the emulated hardwarestate data between multiple, virtual game machines.

Typically, server applications, e.g. a web server, a database server, anemail server, etc., are run on a physical server hardware, e.g., aserver machine. The server machine includes a powerful centralprocessing unit (CPU) and a large amount of memory, which allows runningmultiple server applications in parallel. Computer hardware such asprocessors, memory, data buses, etc., have become more powerful andserver uptime and security has become even more critical and important.

Server applications typically run on a virtualized server hardware. Insuch an instance, there is a powerful server processor, which runs avirtualization application. The virtualization application allows forthe creation of multiple virtual machines. Each virtual machine is aseparately operating, emulated computer hardware. Each virtual machineincludes its own set of virtual or physical peripherals, e.g., networkcards, storage devices, etc. Each virtual machine can run its ownoperating system. The operating system on each of the virtual machinescan be different the other virtual machines and different from theoperating system of the physical machine e.g. a Linux physical machinerunning multiple virtual machines, each of the virtual machines runningdifferent versions of Windows or other suitable computer operatingsystems.

Each server application, e.g. web server, database server, email server,etc. is typically assigned to its own virtual machine for securityisolation reasons. In general, virtual machines, like emulators, aresoftware concepts, and can be paused in a way similar to emulators andthe virtual machine state can be captured as application state data ofthe virtualization application.

The virtual machine state can then be transferred to a second virtualmachine. The second virtual machine can be running on a differentphysical server potentially using different physical components but thephysical components will not matter due to the virtual peripheraldevices and the virtual machine's virtual processor.

The virtual machine state can be considered a type of application statedata. Transferring the virtual machine state between computer systems iscalled migration of virtual machines and is a common feature in theserver world.

A recent extension to migration of virtual machines is referred to aslive migration and improves server reliability. For example, a virtualdatabase server may detect that the physical hardware is failing, e.g.,memory errors, hard disk read errors, etc., and trigger a migration ofthe virtual database server to another, identical virtual databaseserver hosted on a different server hardware. The live migration canoccur with only a few milliseconds or less of downtime and withoutdisconnecting any clients.

Unfortunately, all peripherals of the virtual machine must be virtualperipherals for migration of the virtual machine to function correctly.Migration of the virtual machine does not support migration of physicalperipherals. Migrating the hardware state data of a first game consoleto a second game console requires migrating physical hardware and thusthe virtual machine migration is unsuitable for this purpose.

The game consoles cannot easily or efficiently be emulated orvirtualized due to the complexity required of the game console hardwareto produce the content rich, interactive gaming environment. The user isassigned to a specific game console and the user's selected game isbeing executed by the hardware of the assigned game console. Thus theemulation and virtualization will not provide the needed functionalityfor capturing hardware state data as a type of application state data.

As described above, hardware migration requires capturing the relevanthardware state data of the computer and the peripherals for thatcomputer. The device drivers for the respective peripherals can bequeried to capture the relevant hardware state data for the peripheralsand storing such state in system memory when the system is going intohibernation. When the system is powered on again all memory state isrestored from disk and peripheral device drivers would also beinstructed to restore any hardware state data e.g. buffers containing 3Dtextures for the GPU.

In one implementation, the game console 112A includes a main processor145 and a coprocessor 146, as shown in FIG. 1 above. When the user optsto pause the game console 112A, in operation 320 above, the mainprocessor 145 can freeze one or more of the current operation(s). In theoperation 325, the coprocessor 146 can query the main processor 145,buffers, the graphics processor 147, the memory system 148, the inputoutput system 149, the network interface card 150 and other peripheralsto determine the respective present states to capture the hardware statedata. Alternatively, an application working with or as part of theoperating system can pause and query the buffers, graphics processor147, the memory system 148, the input output system 149, the networkinterface card 150 and other peripherals.

To support game console hardware state data migration from a first gameconsole 112A to a second game console 112B requires extra measures, evenif the second game console 112B includes the same components andperipherals as the first game console 112A. For example, peripherals ineach of the game consoles 112A, 112B will have different internal serialnumbers, which may require some reconfiguration. Another example wouldbe the MAC address of a network device which would require additionalreconfiguration.

Further, the second game console 112B can be in a different networkenvironment than the first game console 112A. The different networkenvironment is likely using different network settings and thus the gameconsole hardware state data migration would also require network outreconfiguration. Game console hardware state data migration may also berequired to be reconfigured for geographic differences between the firstgame console 112A and the second game console 112B. As an example,transfer to the second game console 112B in a different geographicregion than the first game console 112A may require time zone changes,language changes and possibly even changes to the language used in arunning game.

The second game console 112B may also be have a different hardwarerevision than the first game console 112A, which may require differentre-initialization. For example the second game console 112B may be anewer hardware revision, e.g. at a smaller semiconductor process, may bemore power efficient and would need different power and cooling settingsthan the first game console 112A.

Live migration of single applications is a fairly new area. One approachallows pausing an application, followed by capturing the applicationstate data such as file handles, sockets, memory state, and other typesof application state data, such as described above. During resume, theidentical file descriptors are restored to the same condition as whenthe application was paused. The network connections, timers, mutualexclusions and other types of states are also restored. A 3D gameapplication relies on hardware state data in the form of buffersresiding on a GPU. The previous approach does not capture the respectivehardware state data and would be required for application state datatransfer of 3D games. In this context hardware state data refers to anydata or state stored in hardware on behalf of the application. Forexample, buffers in GPU memory containing geometry or texture data,memory buffers containing game data files on a hard disk. Theapplication typically accesses such hardware state data through softwareabstraction layers provided by an operating system kernel or devicedrivers. Examples of such abstractions can be file descriptors to a fileon a disk is ultimately a layer on top of the storage device, filedescriptors representing GPU side buffers and graphics contexts.Sometimes, for performance reasons, the application may directly accesshardware buffers. Directly accessing hardware buffers may be guided by adevice driver.

One approach to capturing hardware state data includes pausing theapplication to and the software abstractions linked to the pausedhardware state data would be captured. If the software abstractionmechanism is a file descriptor, the file descriptor can be used to lookup corresponding hardware state data. Since the file descriptors areoften a device driver/OS kernel concept, the corresponding device driverneeds to expose a method for retrieving its associated hardware statedata. The process of identifying all hardware state data behind the backof the application can be quite difficult

Examples of hardware state data includes content of various registers,fifo buffers, instruction caches (in both CPU and GPU), data caches(CPU/GPU), RAM, program counter(s)/instruction pointer(s) on CPU andGPU. The GPU instructions would be for shader applications.

The hardware state data also includes transitional state relatedinformation. For example hardware may issue an interrupt signal. Theinterrupt signal can be regenerated or the buffer can drain the currentcontent of the buffer and then reload the buffer in a known safe recoverstate. In one implementation the hardware can be allowed to finish anyqueued or scheduled operations. Interrupts can then be used to triggernew operations or to notify completion or an operation. If the hardwareis busy with operations, such interrupt signals can be re-generated elsethe hardware may not complete an operation on resume in case thehardware was waiting for an interrupt signal for some pending operation.Some operations may have fewer transitional states to capture. In oneimplementation, the game operations can be continued until the pendingtransitional states are minimized or below a selected threshold thenless transitional hardware state data such as interrupts and instructioncounters may be needed for the reconstruction during resuming the game.

Another approach is to get assistance from the application. Instead ofpausing the application, the application could be sent a suspend signal,which makes the application store all its internal state to disk andwhich allows it to recover any needed hardware state data. Upon resumingthe application, it is the application's job to do the recovery. Theadvantage is that the application knows what hardware state data itreally needs to capture. A significant portion of the hardware statedata can likely recover by reloading data from its game files. The gamemay also handle recovery e.g. drop network connection to online cloudcontroller.

Independent of the recovery via transfer of application state data orhardware state data, there are additional resume aspects including anonline game disconnect, adjusting for time zone of the user and the gameconsole, selecting an appropriate language for the user and resuming thegame timer. Games often use high precision always increasing timers, forinternal game timing. After resume, these timers need to be restarted atexactly the same time as they were at before suspend else the game maymake wrong decisions, e.g. a game character could be stuck in a wall ordie. Depending on the operating system which may or may not handle thisyet, software changes are needed. As described above, in operation 350et seq., the correct application or game and all the supporting datafiles are needed for a successful resume

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a Game System 400, according to variousembodiments of the invention. Game System 400 is configured to provide avideo stream to one or more Clients 410 via a Network 415. Game System400 typically includes a Video Server System 420 and an optional gameserver 425. Video Server System 420 is configured to provide the videostream to the one or more Clients 410 with a minimal quality of service.For example, Video Server System 420 may receive a game command thatchanges the state of or a point of view within a video game, and provideClients 410 with an updated video stream reflecting this change in statewith minimal lag time. The Video Server System 420 may be configured toprovide the video stream in a wide variety of alternative video formats,including formats yet to be defined. Further, the video stream mayinclude video frames configured for presentation to a user at a widevariety of frame rates. Typical frame rates are 30 frames per second, 60frames per second, and 420 frames per second. Although higher or lowerframe rates are included in alternative embodiments of the invention.

Clients 410, referred to herein individually as 410A., 410B., etc., mayinclude head mounted displays, terminals, personal computers, gameconsoles, tablet computers, telephones, set top boxes, kiosks, wirelessdevices, digital pads, stand-alone devices, handheld game playingdevices, and/or the like. Typically, Clients 410 are configured toreceive encoded video streams, decode the video streams, and present theresulting video to a user, e.g., a player of a game. The processes ofreceiving encoded video streams and/or decoding the video streamstypically includes storing individual video frames in a receive bufferof the client. The video streams may be presented to the user on adisplay integral to Client 410 or on a separate device such as a monitoror television. Clients 410 are optionally configured to support morethan one game player. For example, a game console may be configured tosupport two, three, four or more simultaneous players. Each of theseplayers may receive a separate video stream, or a single video streammay include regions of a frame generated specifically for each player,e.g., generated based on each player's point of view. Clients 410 areoptionally geographically dispersed. The number of clients included inGame System 400 may vary widely from one or two to thousands, tens ofthousands, or more. As used herein, the term “game player” is used torefer to a person that plays a game and the term “game playing device”is used to refer to a device used to play a game. In some embodiments,the game playing device may refer to a plurality of computing devicesthat cooperate to deliver a game experience to the user. For example, agame console and an HMD may cooperate with the video server system 420to deliver a game viewed through the HMD. In one embodiment, the gameconsole receives the video stream from the video server system 420, andthe game console forwards the video stream, or updates to the videostream, to the HMD for rendering.

Clients 410 are configured to receive video streams via Network 415.Network 415 may be any type of communication network including, atelephone network, the Internet, wireless networks, powerline networks,local area networks, wide area networks, private networks, and/or thelike. In typical embodiments, the video streams are communicated viastandard protocols, such as TCP/IP or UDP/IP. Alternatively, the videostreams are communicated via proprietary standards.

A typical example of Clients 410 is a personal computer comprising aprocessor, non-volatile memory, a display, decoding logic, networkcommunication capabilities, and input devices. The decoding logic mayinclude hardware, firmware, and/or software stored on a computerreadable medium. Systems for decoding (and encoding) video streams arewell known in the art and vary depending on the particular encodingscheme used.

Clients 410 may, but are not required to, further include systemsconfigured for modifying received video. For example, a client may beconfigured to perform further rendering, to overlay one video image onanother video image, to crop a video image, and/or the like. Forexample, Clients 410 may be configured to receive various types of videoframes, such as I-frames, P-frames and B-frames, and to process theseframes into images for display to a user. In some embodiments, a memberof Clients 410 is configured to perform further rendering, shading,conversion to 3-D, or like operations on the video stream. A member ofClients 410 is optionally configured to receive more than one audio orvideo stream. Input devices of Clients 410 may include, for example, aone-hand game controller, a two-hand game controller, a gesturerecognition system, a gaze recognition system, a voice recognitionsystem, a keyboard, a joystick, a pointing device, a force feedbackdevice, a motion and/or location sensing device, a mouse, a touchscreen, a neural interface, a camera, input devices yet to be developed,and/or the like.

The video stream (and optionally audio stream) received by Clients 410is generated and provided by Video Server System 420. As is describedfurther elsewhere herein, this video stream includes video frames (andthe audio stream includes audio frames). The video frames are configured(e.g., they include pixel information in an appropriate data structure)to contribute meaningfully to the images displayed to the user. As usedherein, the term “video frames” is used to refer to frames includingpredominantly information that is configured to contribute to, e.g. toeffect, the images shown to the user. Most of the teachings herein withregard to “video frames” can also be applied to “audio frames.”

Clients 410 are typically configured to receive inputs from a user.These inputs may include game commands configured to change the state ofthe video game or otherwise affect game play. The game commands can bereceived using input devices and/or may be automatically generated bycomputing instructions executing on Clients 410. The received gamecommands are communicated from Clients 410 via Network 415 to VideoServer System 420 and/or Game Server 425. For example, in someembodiments, the game commands are communicated to Game Server 425 viaVideo Server System 420. In some embodiments, separate copies of thegame commands are communicated from Clients 410 to Game Server 425 andVideo Server System 420. The communication of game commands isoptionally dependent on the identity of the command Game commands areoptionally communicated from Client 410A through a different route orcommunication channel that that used to provide audio or video streamsto Client 410A. It should be understood that the game server 425 caninclude portions of the cloud controller 130 and/or the game manager 113as described above.

Game Server 425 is optionally operated by a different entity than VideoServer System 420. For example, Game Server 425 may be operated by thepublisher of a multiplayer game. In this example, Video Server System420 is optionally viewed as a client by Game Server 425 and optionallyconfigured to appear from the point of view of Game Server 425 to be aprior art client executing a prior art game engine. Communicationbetween Video Server System 420 and Game Server 425 optionally occursvia Network 415. As such, Game Server 425 can be a prior art multiplayergame server that sends game state information to multiple clients, oneof which is game server system 420. Video Server System 420 may beconfigured to communicate with multiple instances of Game Server 425 atthe same time. For example, Video Server System 420 can be configured toprovide a plurality of different video games to different users. Each ofthese different video games may be supported by a different Game Server425 and/or published by different entities. In some embodiments, severalgeographically distributed instances of Video Server System 420 areconfigured to provide game video to a plurality of different users. Eachof these instances of Video Server System 420 may be in communicationwith the same instance of Game Server 425. Communication between VideoServer System 420 and one or more Game Server 425 optionally occurs viaa dedicated communication channel. For example, Video Server System 420may be connected to Game Server 425 via a high bandwidth channel that isdedicated to communication between these two systems.

Video Server System 420 comprises at least a Video Source 430, an I/ODevice 445, a Processor 450, and non-transitory Storage 455. VideoServer System 420 may include one computing device or be distributedamong a plurality of computing devices. These computing devices areoptionally connected via a communications system such as a local areanetwork.

Video Source 430 is configured to provide a video stream, e.g.,streaming video or a series of video frames that form a moving picture.In some embodiments, Video Source 430 includes a video game engine andrendering logic. The video game engine is configured to receive gamecommands from a player and to maintain a copy of the state of the videogame based on the received commands. This game state includes theposition of objects in a game environment, as well as typically a pointof view. The game state may also include properties, images, colorsand/or textures of objects. The game state is typically maintained basedon game rules, as well as game commands such as move, turn, attack, setfocus to, interact, use, and/or the like. Part of the game engine isoptionally disposed within Game Server 425. Game Server 425 may maintaina copy of the state of the game based on game commands received frommultiple players using geographically disperse clients. In these cases,the game state is provided by Game Server 425 to Video Source 430,wherein a copy of the game state is stored and rendering is performed.Game Server 425 may receive game commands directly from Clients 410 viaNetwork 415, and/or may receive game commands via Video Server System420.

Video Source 430 typically includes rendering logic, e.g., hardware,firmware, and/or software stored on a computer readable medium such asStorage 455. This rendering logic is configured to create video framesof the video stream based on the game state. All or part of therendering logic is optionally disposed within a graphics processing unit(GPU). Rendering logic typically includes processing stages configuredfor determining the three-dimensional spatial relationships betweenobjects and/or for applying appropriate textures, etc., based on thegame state and viewpoint. The rendering logic produces raw video that isthen usually encoded prior to communication to Clients 410. For example,the raw video may be encoded according to an Adobe Flash® standard,.wav, H.264, H.263, On2, VP6, VC-1, WMA, Huffyuv, Lagarith, MPG-x. Xvid.FFmpeg, x264, VP6-8, realvideo, mp3, or the like. The encoding processproduces a video stream that is optionally packaged for delivery to adecoder on a remote device. The video stream is characterized by a framesize and a frame rate. Typical frame sizes include 800×600, 1280×720(e.g., 720p), 1024×768, although any other frame sizes may be used. Theframe rate is the number of video frames per second. A video stream mayinclude different types of video frames. For example, the H.264 standardincludes a “P” frame and a “I” frame. I-frames include information torefresh all macro blocks/pixels on a display device, while P-framesinclude information to refresh a subset thereof. P-frames are typicallysmaller in data size than are I-frames. As used herein the term “framesize” is meant to refer to a number of pixels within a frame. The term“frame data size” is used to refer to a number of bytes required tostore the frame.

In alternative embodiments Video Source 430 includes a video recordingdevice such as a camera. This camera may be used to generate delayed orlive video that can be included in the video stream of a computer game.The resulting video stream, optionally includes both rendered images andimages recorded using a still or video camera. Video Source 430 may alsoinclude storage devices configured to store previously recorded video tobe included in a video stream. Video Source 430 may also include motionor positioning sensing devices configured to detect motion or positionof an object, e.g., person, and logic configured to determine a gamestate or produce video-based on the detected motion and/or position.

Video Source 430 is optionally configured to provide overlays configuredto be placed on other video. For example, these overlays may include acommand interface, log in instructions, messages to a game player,images of other game players, video feeds of other game players (e.g.,webcam video). In embodiments of Client 410A including a touch screeninterface or a gaze detection interface, the overlay may include avirtual keyboard, joystick, touch pad, and/or the like. In one exampleof an overlay a player's voice is overlaid on an audio stream. VideoSource 430 optionally further includes one or more audio sources.

In embodiments wherein Video Server System 420 is configured to maintainthe game state based on input from more than one player, each player mayhave a different point of view comprising a position and direction ofview. Video Source 430 is optionally configured to provide a separatevideo stream for each player based on their point of view. Further,Video Source 430 may be configured to provide a different frame size,frame data size, and/or encoding to each of Client 410. Video Source 430is optionally configured to provide 3-D video.

I/O Device 445 is configured for Video Server System 420 to send and/orreceive information such as video, commands, requests for information, agame state, gaze information, device motion, device location, usermotion, client identities, player identities, game commands, securityinformation, audio, and/or the like. I/O Device 445 typically includescommunication hardware such as a network card or modem. I/O Device 445is configured to communicate with Game Server 425, Network 415, and/orClients 410.

Processor 450 is configured to execute logic, e.g. software, includedwithin the various components of Video Server System 420 discussedherein. For example, Processor 450 may be programmed with softwareinstructions in order to perform the functions of Video Source 430, GameServer 425, and/or a Client Qualifier 460. Video Server System 420optionally includes more than one instance of Processor 450. Processor450 may also be programmed with software instructions in order toexecute commands received by Video Server System 420, or to coordinatethe operation of the various elements of Game System 400 discussedherein. Processor 450 may include one or more hardware device. Processor450 is an electronic processor.

Storage 455 includes non-transitory analog and/or digital storagedevices. For example, Storage 455 may include an analog storage deviceconfigured to store video frames. Storage 455 may include a computerreadable digital storage, e.g. a hard drive, an optical drive, or solidstate storage. Storage 415 is configured (e.g. by way of an appropriatedata structure or file system) to store video frames, artificial frames,a video stream including both video frames and artificial frames, audioframe, an audio stream, and/or the like. Storage 455 is optionallydistributed among a plurality of devices. In some embodiments, Storage455 is configured to store the software components of Video Source 430discussed elsewhere herein. These components may be stored in a formatready to be provisioned when needed.

Video Server System 420 optionally further comprises Client Qualifier460. Client Qualifier 460 is configured for remotely determining thecapabilities of a client, such as Clients 410A or 410B. Thesecapabilities can include both the capabilities of Client 410A itself aswell as the capabilities of one or more communication channels betweenClient 410A and Video Server System 420. For example, Client Qualifier460 may be configured to test a communication channel through Network415.

Client Qualifier 460 can determine (e.g., discover) the capabilities ofClient 410A manually or automatically. Manual determination includescommunicating with a user of Client 410A and asking the user to providecapabilities. For example, in some embodiments, Client Qualifier 460 isconfigured to display images, text, and/or the like within a browser ofClient 410A. In one embodiment, Client 410A is an HMD that includes abrowser. In another embodiment, client 410A is a game console having abrowser, which may be displayed on the HMD. The displayed objectsrequest that the user enter information such as operating system,processor, video decoder type, type of network connection, displayresolution, etc. of Client 410A. The information entered by the user iscommunicated back to Client Qualifier 460.

Automatic determination may occur, for example, by execution of an agenton Client 410A and/or by sending test video to Client 410A. The agentmay comprise computing instructions, such as java script, embedded in aweb page or installed as an add-on. The agent is optionally provided byClient Qualifier 460. In various embodiments, the agent can find outprocessing power of Client 410A, decoding and display capabilities ofClient 410A, lag time reliability and bandwidth of communicationchannels between Client 410A and Video Server System 420, a display typeof Client 410A, firewalls present on Client 410A, hardware of Client410A, software executing on Client 410A, registry entries within Client410A, and/or the like.

Client Qualifier 460 includes hardware, firmware, and/or software storedon a computer readable medium. Client Qualifier 460 is optionallydisposed on a computing device separate from one or more other elementsof Video Server System 420. For example, in some embodiments, ClientQualifier 460 is configured to determine the characteristics ofcommunication channels between Clients 410 and more than one instance ofVideo Server System 420. In these embodiments the information discoveredby Client Qualifier can be used to determine which instance of VideoServer System 420 is best suited for delivery of streaming video to oneof Clients 410.

Embodiments of the present invention may be practiced with variouscomputer system configurations including hand-held devices,microprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumerelectronics, minicomputers, mainframe computers and the like. Theinvention can also be practiced in distributed computing environmentswhere tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linkedthrough a wire-based or wireless network.

With the above embodiments in mind, it should be understood that theinvention can employ various computer-implemented operations involvingdata stored in computer systems. These operations are those requiringphysical manipulation of physical quantities. Any of the operationsdescribed herein that form part of the invention are useful machineoperations. The invention also relates to a device or an apparatus forperforming these operations. The apparatus can be specially constructedfor the required purpose, or the apparatus can be a general-purposecomputer selectively activated or configured by a computer programstored in the computer. In particular, various general-purpose machinescan be used with computer programs written in accordance with theteachings herein, or it may be more convenient to construct a morespecialized apparatus to perform the required operations.

The invention can also be embodied as computer readable code on acomputer readable medium. The computer readable medium is any datastorage device that can store data, which can be thereafter be read by acomputer system. Examples of the computer readable medium include harddrives, network attached storage (NAS), read-only memory, random-accessmemory, CD-ROMs, CD-Rs, CD-RWs, magnetic tapes and other optical andnon-optical data storage devices. The computer readable medium caninclude computer readable tangible medium distributed over anetwork-coupled computer system so that the computer readable code isstored and executed in a distributed fashion.

Although the method operations were described in a specific order, itshould be understood that other housekeeping operations may be performedin between operations, or operations may be adjusted so that they occurat slightly different times, or may be distributed in a system whichallows the occurrence of the processing operations at various intervalsassociated with the processing, as long as the processing of the overlayoperations are performed in the desired way.

Although the foregoing invention has been described in some detail forpurposes of clarity of understanding, it will be apparent that certainchanges and modifications can be practiced within the scope of theappended claims. Accordingly, the present embodiments are to beconsidered as illustrative and not restrictive, and the invention is notto be limited to the details given herein, but may be modified withinthe scope and equivalents of the described embodiments.

What is claimed is:
 1. A cloud gaming system for executing online games,the cloud game system is associated with a plurality of data centers,comprising: a data center including a server and a storage device; aplurality of game instances, each game instance is associated with ahardware layer and an operating system, the operating system isassociated with a state manager; and a gaming application is executed incoordination with at least a portion of the operating system and aportion of the hardware layer, the gaming application being for a gamehosted by the cloud gaming system, the state manager is configured tocapture game state data of the game when executed and store the capturedgame state data when the gaming application is paused at a point whenthe game is paused, wherein the point is not a predefined stopping pointof the game, wherein the game state data is used to restart anexecutable state for the game capable of resuming from the point wherethe game was paused.
 2. The cloud gaming system of claim 1, whereinresuming the game includes applying game state data to the gameinstance.
 3. The cloud gaming system of claim 1, wherein the game statedata includes a data structure including temporal metadata.
 4. The cloudgaming system of claim 3, further comprising account data having apaused game for a selected user of a plurality of users.
 5. The cloudgaming system of claim 1, wherein the hardware layer of each one of theplurality of game instances includes: at least one processor in the datacenter; and at least one graphics processor in the data centerassociated to the processor.
 6. The cloud gaming system of claim 1,wherein the hardware layer of each one of the plurality of gameinstances further uses a co-processor for assisting in capturing of thegame state data.
 7. The cloud gaming system of claim 1, wherein theserver is configured to transfer the game state data to one or moreother data centers to reduce latency in game play based on a location ofa user playing the game.
 8. The cloud gaming system of claim 1, whereinthe game state data includes at least one of a hardware state data or anapplication state data.
 9. A method for pausing a game in a cloud gamingsystem, comprising: receiving a gaming request from a client device thatis remote from the cloud gaming system, the gaming request beingprocessed by a server of the cloud gaming system; assigning a gaminginstance to the server in the cloud gaming system to the client deviceto play the game; receiving a request to pause the game at a point, therequest to pause being received from the client device, and pausing thegame at the point that is not a predefined stop point of the game; andcapturing game state data for the point, wherein the game state data isused to recreate an executable state for the game for resuming game playof the game from the point of pausing the game.
 10. The method of claim9, wherein the game state data includes a data structure includingtemporal metadata.
 11. The method of claim 9, wherein resuming the gameat the point is enabled from a gaming instance available in the cloudgaming system, the game instance being a same or a different datacenter.
 12. The method of claim 9, further comprising: retrieving thegame state data and applying the game state data to said gaming instanceof the cloud gaming system; and resuming the game at the point in thegame.
 13. The method of claim 9, wherein capturing the game state dataincludes capturing at least one of an application state data or ahardware state data or both.
 14. The method of claim 9, whereincapturing the game state data includes storing the game state data andupdating a corresponding user account information with a storagelocation of the game state data.
 15. The method of claim 9, wherein thegame state data is transferrable to another data center that is closerto a user to reduce latency.
 16. Computer readable media having programinstructions for pausing a game in a cloud gaming system, comprising:program instructions for receiving a gaming request from a client devicethat is remote from the cloud gaming system, the gaming request beingprocessed by a server of the cloud gaming system; program instructionsfor assigning a gaming instance to a server of the cloud gaming systemto the client device to play the game; program instructions forreceiving a request to pause the game at a point, the request to pausebeing received from the client device, and pausing the game at the pointthat is not a predefined stop point of the game; and programinstructions for capturing game state data for the point of pause,wherein the game state data is used to recreate an executable state forthe game for resuming game play of the game from the point of pausingthe game.
 17. The computer readable media of claim 16, wherein resumingthe game at the point is enabled from a gaming instance available in thecloud gaming system, the game instance being a same or a different datacenter.
 18. The computer readable media of claim 16, further comprising:retrieving the game state data and applying the game state data to saidgaming instance of the cloud gaming system; and resuming the game at thepoint in the game.
 19. The computer readable media of claim 16, whereincapturing the game state data includes capturing at least one of anapplication state data or a hardware state data or both.
 20. Thecomputer readable media of claim 16, wherein capturing the game statedata includes storing the game state data and updating a correspondinguser account information with a storage location of the stored gamestate data.